Copyright Staten Island Advance
Major U.S. airlines are stepping in to provide meals for air traffic controllers and other federal aviation workers who missed their first full paycheck on Tuesday, Oct. 28 — day 28 of the government shutdown, CBS News is reporting. United Airlines is donating meals for air traffic controllers and other federal workers at its hubs across the country, including Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., the report said. “United is donating meals for air traffic controllers and other federal workers whose pay is delayed. “We appreciate the hardworking federal employees who are keeping the air travel system running,” the airline said in a statement to CBS News. Delta Air Lines has “arranged for a limited number of meals for transportation sector workers” the airline confirmed to CBS News. American Airlines is providing meals for air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration officers and Customs and Border Protection officers at more than seven airports nationwide. At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, American sent “dozens of pizzas” to air traffic controllers last week, CBS news reported. JetBlue is also coordinating with federal partners to “offer meals at our airports as a gesture of support,” working with the TSA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Federal Aviation Administration, the report said. Air traffic controller Joe Segretto, who works at a regional radar facility directing planes at airports in the New York area, expressed the anxiety many workers are feeling. “The pressure is real,” Segretto said. “We have trainees that are trying to learn a new job that is very fast paced, very stressful, very complex, now having to worry about how they’re going to pay bills.”
